1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a water heating apparatus that can be used for a steam cleaner or an oven, and more particularly, to a water heating apparatus in which three or more electrodes are arranged in a tank so that water can be heated regardless of the direction of the tank.
2. Description of the Background Art
In a common steam cleaner, as illustrated in FIG. 1, a water tank 1 that is a space for storing water and a boiler 10 for heating the water supplied by the water tank 1 to generate steam are included in the main body of the cleaner.
Here, a pump 3 is provided between the water tank 1 and the boiler 10 to supply water. A valve for opening and closing a channel may be provided instead of or in addition to the pump 3.
In the cleaner, a steam nozzle 7 for spraying the steam generated by the boiler 10 to an object to be cleaned is included in a head (not shown) that contacts the object to be cleaned.
A heating apparatus such as the boiler 10 that generates steam is used for the steam cleaner of the above structure or an oven for cooking. FIG. 2 is a perspective view illustrating a water heating apparatus that generates steam using carbon electrodes.
As illustrated in FIG. 2, a water heating apparatus 10′ using carbon electrodes is divided into a heating tank 11 and carbon electrodes 15.
The heating tank 11 includes a water supply hole 12 for supplying electrolyte solution and a steam discharge hole 13 for discharging steam. The two or more carbon electrodes 15 are mounted on the bottom of the heating tank 11 so that current is flown to the carbon electrodes 15 to heat the electrolyte solution in the heating tank 11. Here, salt water that can be easily supplied can be used as the electrolyte solution and a carbon material having low reactivity is mainly used as the carbon electrodes 15.
In the water heating apparatus 10′ using the carbon electrodes having the above structure, when current flows through the carbon electrodes 15 in a state where the pair of carbon electrodes 15 composed of a positive electrode and a negative electrode are sunken under the electrolyte solution in the heating tank 11 as illustrated in FIG. 3, the current that flows through the carbon electrodes 15 heats the electrolyte solution to generate steam.
However, when any one of the pair of carbon electrodes 15 is not sunken under the electrolyte solution, current does not flow through the carbon electrodes 15 so that a normal heating operation is not performed.
That is, since the pair of electrodes are provided on the bottom of the heating tank, when the heating tank is inclined at no less than a certain angle or is upset as illustrated in FIGS. 4 and 5, any of the pair of carbon electrodes 15 is not sunken under the electrolyte solution so that current does not flow through the carbon electrodes 15 and that the operation of the heating apparatus stops. Therefore, when the conventional water heating apparatus using the carbon electrodes is applied to an apparatus that severely vibrates or an apparatus that is not in a specific direction, the operation of the heating apparatus may not be normally performed so that there are limitations on applying the product.